'Glee' recap, Props/Nationals

FOX

The banner says it all.

The banner says it all. (FOX)

L'Oreal ThompsonBaltimore Sun reporter

And the winner of the 2012 National Show Choir Championship is...

New Directions...finally! I thought about teasing y'all with the Big Moment until the end of the recap, but if you're a diehard gleek, then you already know. Our glee kids get to take home the big trophy and William McKinley goes wild. Woohoo!

But first, let's recap how we...I mean, they...got there, shall we?

In the first episode of our double dose of Glee-dom, we find Tina tired of being upstaged, overshadowed, overlooked and just about every other synonym for ignored you can think of...so she fights for her right to sing a solo (RIP MCA). After three years of sitting on the sidleines, Tina finally gives Rachel a piece of her mind, only to have her boyfriend, Mike Chang, call her selfish.

So, while she's arguing with Chang via text, Tina trips and falls into the fountain at the mall, as Blaine and Kurt rush to her rescue. But she bumped her head and now...she thinks she's Rachel. And vice versa. Everyone switches roles, but during her brief transformation, Fake Tina (aka Rachel) encourages Fake Rachel (aka Tina) to give NYADA another try.

After (real) Tina comes to, she gives (real) Rachel that same advice and they take off to convince Carmen (aka Whoopi Goldberg) to give her another shot at NYADA. But Carmen's not having it.

Meanwhile, Sue tries to talk Kurt into dressing in drag (as "Porcelina") so they have a shot of beating Vocal Adrenaline (and Unique) in Nationals. And Kurt's not having it. Puck, being a team player, decides to give it a go, but unlike Unique, he does not look good in drag. Sue suggests they use props and lots of them, but it ends up being too much.

Speaking of Puck, Rick the Stick challenges him to a fight near the dumpster. Stick throws Puck into a dumpster and then Puck gets all "West Side Story" on him and pulls out a knife. Coach Beiste breaks up the fight and later Puck has an emotional breakdown.

Earlier, Santana, Brittany and Mercedes staged an intervention with Bieste and asked her to leave her abusive husband for the weekend by coming with them to Chicago. Well, Beiste did one step better and leaves him for good.

Bieste thanks Puck for helping her and talks his geography teacher into letting him take the exam again. So Puckerman may graduate after all!

In the beginning of the second episode, Mercedes comes down with flu...or is it food poisoning? But not to worry, she makes it back in time for Nationals. The kids have a squabble over jazz squares, but before you know it, they're back to their gleeful selves and knock the socks off of Nationals.

We begin with the Troubletones' rendition of Lady Gaga's"Edge of Glory" and they do a rather nice job. Up next. Rachel steals the show with a powerful version of Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me" and Carmen arrives to check her out just in time. Maybe Rachel will make it to NYADA?

Up next, we have Finn leading "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Why, oh why? Finn can neither dance, nor can he sing, but thankfully, the rest of the glee clubs joins him and they put on a rather impressive show...which is almosst always longer than everyone else's performance. Can someone please explain that to me?

And then we have Vocal Adrenaline, they do a nice job with Nicki Minaj's "Starships," led by Unique, of course, followed by some song about a pinball machine. it was okay. Nowhere near the showstopping version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in season one, but it was decent. But in the end, it wasn't enough...as celebrity guest judges, Lindsay Lohan and some other guy I don't know vote for New Directions. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, however, was Team Unique.

When the champions return to William McKinley, they're greeted with slushie cups full of...confetti! The school wins $10,000 and they have a fancy trophy to proudly display. Coach Sue gets to keep her job as cheerleading coach and Mr. Schu and Emma finally get it on.

But the good news doesn't stop there, Mr. Schu is also named the 2012 Teacher of the Year! So, of course, we close the episode with "We Are the Champions."

Don't miss the season finale/graduation episode next week and make sure you bring some tissues. This one looks like a tearjerker!